Definitely all about your outgoings. We live on under $60k, three young kids that do activities, eat high quality lots of organic food (though have chooks & garden to help). Only run one car with very modest loan ($180 p/month repayments), $800 p/month rent/mortgage BUT we share a large/dual home with family! There are pros and cons of course to frugal and simple living. We can afford take out only once p/fortnight (though as a SAHM I have time to cook & prefer it for health reasons). When I work more we simply spend more and I'm not sure I would say we are happier in those periods. Budgeting is crucial because it's the lack of control over income that causes financial stress. If I know the bills coming & have my spreadsheet assuring me I can pay them, I have no stress. Even on our income we have (very) modest savings, though there are times of living week to week - even then we never go without though. I'd not decide against another child based on finances, there is enough space in our home, car and budget.

We have 4 kids I'm a stay at home mum and hubby earns around 130k a year. We are just about to purchase our first property a 10acre farm which all spare money has gone into a deposit seems we need 20percent. We don't receive any ftb but I get a carers allowance of 127 something dollars a fortnight for my second son with autism which only goes towards fuel and appointment costs.

I think as others have said it all depends on what your earn and what you choose to spend money on. We have 4 children, with our first we were both working on min wage, I had 6 months off and went back to work so that we could keep paying our mortgage. I worked through my pregnancy with my 2nd and up to part way through with my 3rd. I then had a big break from working and enjoyed being a stay at home mum. I went back to work when my 4th was a year old. During these times our income has ranged from 25k through to over 100k. I am now a stay at home mum (I home school our 4 children), 5th baby is on the way. In the last 7 years we have paid off all credit card debt (no longer have any credit cards and wont ever again), in the last 4 years we have paid off my car loan and we have been paying as much as we can off our mortgage. We have no other debt. We bought our first house 13 years ago, small 3 by 1 - spent 7 years renovating it, then sold it and bought a just built 4x2 which we still live in.

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I have 4 children, ages 12, 5, 4 & 2.
Dh usually earns under $75k a year, and I've been working for a year at under $25k. We are paying a decent amount on rent, and are also building a house. We run 2 cars, but only one car loan. I work 20 hrs a week at night so don't have to pay daycare costs. If we had any of the kids in day care I would be working for nothing.
We are lucky that before we started building we worked really hard and put a lot of money into savings, knowing as the build progresses money would start to get tight.
I think like other have said, it's all relevant. I have family that are earning the same as us on one wage, and only run 1 car with 3 kids who are struggling a fair bit, and do t understand how we can still take the kids for a dinner outing or buy things as we need them.
The more you earn the more you spend, and dh is great at budgeting.

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